


Lost Through Time

by KoalaKat



Series: Winn shots [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Brainy and Winn are brothers, Did you know that they didn't have Brainy listed as a character?, Gen, I love Brainy, Rude - Freeform, Spoilers for season three, and i love winn, racism trigger warning, this just seemed like the natural progression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-05-09 13:48:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14717247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoalaKat/pseuds/KoalaKat
Summary: In the year 2989 a family was split in two. Half of it stayed in 2989 and the other half trapped in 1989. Without their memories. However this family will stop at nothing to reunite and even time can't hold them back.





	1. People Lost and Plans Formed

The day started out like any other. There were no foreboding clouds, no ominous signals, no gut feelings to warn them. Just a normal family of four enjoying a picnic in a park. They got no warning before their lives were ripped to shreds.

The two blue sons were running from their very human looking father as he tried to tickle them, the mother watching on from the blanket when a stranger approached her. “Excuse me?” he said with a smile on his face, “You do realize that this is a public park, right? I mean there are children here.”

“Of course, that’s why I brought my sons here, it’s actually their favorite park.”

His smile disappeared, “Then why are you here? Their kind tried to wipe out the Earth and now you want them to play here?”

She stood up and backed away, “My family and I are just trying to enjoy a nice, quiet day in the park so I will ask you kindly, please. Leave. Because as far as I can tell the only one hurting others around here is you.”

“Fine,” he spat, “enjoy your day with your little freaks because trust me, it won’t last very long.” With that the man stalked off and the mother turned back to her kids and tried to put the whole encounter behind her.

Despite the strangers best attempts the family enjoyed their day in the park. The boys were sad to be going but, as their mother always said, good memories made makes a good day. So they packed up their stuff, laughing and playing the whole time.

But all good things must come to an end.

Before they could even process what was happening a group of five men surrounded them, each of them carrying a gun that was aimed at the defenceless family. “I tried to warn you freaks! This is our planet and you ain’t gonna steal it from us!”

The younger son started crying and his father bent down to pick him up, his mother pulling his older brother close to her. “We don’t mean any harm,” she soothed, “we just want to go home and get our kids tucked into bed.”

The man from earlier scoffed. “You call those blue skinned freaks kids? Well if you’re so insistent to be friends with them you can burn with them. C’mon boys!”

With that the parents didn’t waste any time, they promptly dropped all of their stuff and each grabbed a son. As the men started shooting they ran off into the woods, splitting up once they were out of sight. They already had a spot to meet up at picked out, because if there’s one thing their family always is it’s prepared.

 

The father ran with his five year old son deep into the woods surrounding the park. Part of the reason they liked this park so much was because it was never too crowded due to it bordering the woods.

He ran and ran with the little boy tucked safely in his arms until they reached a large tree. The father looked back to make sure that they weren’t being followed, they were but not close enough to see, and walked into the tree. As he walked in the tree flickered and for an instance a small building, more of a shack, could be seen.

The father walked into the shack and put his son down, “stay right here buddy, ok?” Not waiting for a response he hurried around the shack and started flipping switches on the large machine that took up more than half of the room. Outside banging and yelling could be heard from their attackers.

Suddenly there were gunshots and laughter. He could hear one of the men shout “two down and two to go!”

The father turned to his son with tears in his eyes, “I’m so sorry but this is the only way out of here.” He put a bracelet on his son, one that would grow with him, that contained a image inducer. Suddenly the boy looked no more alien than his father who picked him up and placed him in the machine, flipping even more switches and pressing a rainbow of buttons. He paused only when he came to the switch labeled “new memory off/on”. Finally deciding that it would be easier for the both of them if they didn’t remember he flipped it on and pulled the lever next to him. In the next second his son was gone.

Not wasting any time he quickly reset the machine and set it on a timer, stepping in. Soon he disappeared just like his son.

Outside yelling could be heard as the leader of the group reprimanded them for being dumb enough to mistake deer for their targets.

 

The mother and son ran through the trees, heading towards the only port nearby. It was a mile and a half out but with attackers on their tails and adrenaline pumping through their veins they managed to run the entire way. The men stayed on their tails until they reached the more populated port. The two of them got the first flight off world headed towards their safe spot on Colu. 

Once they arrived the mother and son stayed there for a week waiting for the other half of their family, the other half of their hearts.

They never came.

The two of them never lost hope though, they never stopped searching.

Years later, as the brother searched along the way the father ran for the umpteenth time he came across an old rundown shack that looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. He hadn’t seen it on any of his other searches so he was immediately cautious. As he searched the outside of the building he found an old image inducer, from the looks of it it had broken down rather recently.

Curiosity now peaked he stepped inside. Inside the rundown shack there was a machine that easily took up half of the room, dials and switches taking up half of the machine, the other half being a large chamber. After some poking around he realized what the machine was, a time machine.

Immediately he raced around the machine looking for clues that this may have been where his family disappeared to so long ago. He stopped when he came to a panel that had a date spelled out on it. “November 20, 1989” He knew that that’s when he had to go to find his family. 

One look at the machine and he knew that he couldn’t take that back, but luckily he’d heard rumors of a mission in the legion that was going back in time. All he had to do was get a spot on the mission, which would be easy with his superior intellect.

Plan made he was about to walk out when he spotted two identical containers with glowing liquid inside. Unfortunately he knew exactly what those containers held. They held the memories of Brainy’s family.

This mission just got a lot harder.


	2. Life Unknowing

Winn opened the door with a smile on his face, it had been a really good day at school. “Daddy! Daddy! Guess what I did today!”

His dad was at his desk, tinkering like always. He was leaning over his new project as he muttered to himself “Gotta get back, gotta find a way back.”

Winn’s smile fell a little and he walked over to his dad. “Daddy?” he poked his leg. 

“Not now Winn.”

“But Dad, look at what I got on-”

His father stood up, sending many of his projects flying, “I said not now!”

Winn ran to his room, terrified. After shutting the door he climbed on his bed and buried himself under the covers and started crying. He knew Daddy didn't mean it, he always said so later. Sometimes he just got really into his work and didn't like to be interrupted. 

Still, Winn missed his old Dad. How his Dad was before the projects.

A couple of months later Winn woke up to a lot of loud noises, people stomping all over his house. Winn pulled his blanket up over his head to try and drown out the yelling. That is until his door flew open, followed by a cop pointing a gun at him. “It’s a kid!” He yelled, putting his gun away. 

Winn buried himself farther under the covers as the cop slowly made his way over. “Hey there kid, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“If you don't want to hurt me why'd you point a gun at me?”

The cop sighed, “I just wanted to make sure there weren't any bad men in here.”

“Bad men? Is that why you're here, bad men got into our house?” Winn asked as he finally took his head out from under the covers. 

The cop sat down next to Winn. “Yeah kid, I'm here because of bad men.”

Winn was taken to the police station where they tried to call his mom. They tried and tried and tried but she never picked up. 

It was another week before he found out why the cops were really at his house. That was also when he realised that he wasn't going to be leaving this foster home anytime soon. 

After that Winn had a fairly average childhood. Well, an average childhood if your father's a murderer that is. He got bullied by a lot of his classmates. Not just because of his father but also because of his smarts. He got top marks in all of his classes and that made a lot of the other kids mad. 

Winn never really understood that. 

Because of the constant bullying Winn's friends were few and far between. So, when Winn finally reached his 18th birthday he was on his own. He worked odd jobs to pay for the college that his scholarships didn't. After college he moved to National City, wanting a completely fresh start where no one would look at him differently because of his past. Getting the job at Catco and making new friends proved that it was his best decision yet. 

His life got a lot more complicated when Kara revealed that she was an alien, but Winn liked to think he handled that pretty well. After that he helped Kara fight crime and was thrust into a world of aliens, alternate Earths, and technology that Winn never imagined he'd see in his lifetime. 

Eventually Winn got a job at the DEO. it was his dream job, inventing tech and helping others. 

However if his whole world changed when he found out about Kara’s abilities then it exploded when the legionnaires came from the future.


	3. Long Lost, Finally Found AKA Three Times Brainy was an Idiot and Didn’t Say What He Needed

When Brainy woke up, he immediately looked around for his brother, forgetting that he wouldn’t be there.

“Brainy, we made it to the past. But now, we need you.” Brainy was confused, he looked around for the source of the voice and found Mon-El standing over him. He was confused as to why Mon-El was here looking for his brother- until he remembered that he was here on a Legion mission.

“What do you need me for? Other than my amazing intellect that is?” How close is my brother? What is he doing? Brainy could barely focus on the conversation he was having, he was so close to finally having his brother back!

Mon-El smiled. “Nope, that’s pretty much it.”

“Predictable.” Brainy rolled his eyes. Let’s just hurry this up, he thought, so that I can start my search. “So, what exactly is the problem?”

All hints of humor disappeared from Mon-El’s face. “Supergirl has been trapped in her own mind, we need your help getting her out.”

“Alright then. Let’s go.” 

 

It wasn’t until after he saved Supergirl that Brainy got a chance to start his search for his brother. He had helped Kara to escape her mind, and now Brainy was heading towards the DEO’s computers to start his search. While their tech was far inferior to the tech in his own time he hoped it would be enough. Especially with his limited knowledge of his brother in this time- all Brainy knew about him was that he now went by Winslow Schott and had no memory of his life before Earth.

Brainy was pondering over his dilemma as he walked the halls of the DEO, when he walked headfirst into one of the agents.

“Oh gosh, are you okay?” As he looked up at him, Brainy tensed, preparing himself for the fear most people had when they saw him for the first time. Since a Brainiac had recently attacked Earth in that time, Brainy had researched the early twenty-first century thoroughly before the trip, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if this agent tried to attack him. “Wait… you’re the guy who saved Kara!”

That threw Brainy for a loop. Rather than reacting in fear or hatred, this man looked… surprised. Thankful, even. “You do not find my appearance frightening?” 

“I mean I know you’re a Brainiac, of course. But,” he chuckled humorously, “well, if anyone understands not to judge a person based on their family... it’s me.”

Before Brainy could ask what he meant by that, the other man stuck out his hand, “I’m Winn by the way. Winn Schott.”

For once Brainy was so shocked he couldn’t even think. It couldn’t possibly be this easy. Could it? “That wouldn’t happen to be short for Winslow by any chance?”

Winn’s face scrunched up in disgust. 

“Yeah. Horrible name, right?” 

Brainy had to disagree- right now, it was the best thing he had ever heard. 

“So what is your job, Winslow?” 

Brainy wanted to know everything about his brother’s new life, and asking that question was, as he theorized, the best first step in doing so.

His face brightened.

“Oh- I’m actually a computer expert. I track bad guys and, like, find out who they are.”

“Well, perhaps I could help you,” Brainy wanted to use any excuse to spend time with Winn. “I am- or, well, I was- the resident computer expert for my team.”

“Sure, c’mon, my station is over here.” Winn showed him a computer station in the middle of the main area of the DEO. “Maybe later... I could show you some tech I’ve been working on? Y’know, get an advanced opinion.”

Brainy smiled.

“I’d like that.”

Now Brainy just had to find a way to restore his memory, then he’d really have his brother back. He knew he needed to tell Winn about his heritage- but he was finding it hard to find the right time. It seemed whenever he tried they were interrupted.

The first time he tried was later that day when Winn was showing off his inventions. “- see, this will allow soldiers to still shoot people but it would no longer be fatal, taking out the risk of death and making captures easier.”

“Winn, these are amazing.” And they were, however, Brainy wanted to get some teasing in to make up for the twenty years they both missed out on. “For a first-level intellect that is.”

“Hey, just because we aren’t all supercomputers-” Brainy smirked, at the irony of his brother saying that, “doesn’t mean we aren’t smart.”

Brainy had a smile that felt like it would never go away. He kept it small, because people didn’t expect him to smile much, but it felt so good to be with his brother again. “You know, this reminds me of back when we used to-”

Winn stared at him expectantly, “Back when you used to what?”

“When I was a child, my brother and I used to build things together.” His smile turned bittersweet. “We had so many great adventures, the two of us.”

“What happened to him?” Winn asked, his expression softening. 

Brainy sighed, closing his eyes to try to stop the pain of the memories flooding back. He’d never told anybody about his brother. “People... aren’t a huge fan of my family- as you can imagine. My ancestors repeatedly trying to take over the Earth did not sit well with many.”

Winn snorted. “Oh, I can imagine.”

“Well, you see, we were out having a picnic. I was only six at the time, and my brother was five, when these men came out and attacked our family. Mother grabbed me, while my father grabbed my brother and ran. We got split up- and when they never showed up at our meeting place, we went out looking for them.” Brainy squeezed his eyes closed, trying to stop the tears. “We... never did find them.”

“...Oh, Brainy,” Winn stood next to him, just standing there being a comforting presence. “That really sucks, it’s always hard to lose family.”

“Thank you, Winslow.” Brainy took comfort in just saying the name, the name of his brother at long last. “I’ve never told anyone that story before. But for you,” he ruefully smiled, “for you it just poured out, as if there was no stopping it.”

Winn shrugged.

“Sometimes, a stranger is the easiest person to tell your problems to.”, he said.

But you’re not a stranger!, Brainy wanted to scream. In fact, he almost told him right then, when Mon-El came in. “Hey, Brainy! There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“Well, you have found me.”

 

The next time Brainy tried to confront Winn was a couple days after their first encounter. They were both at the computers, trying to find where Reign was hiding. “So, Winslow.” Brainy piped up.

“Brainy.” He sighed. “Please, just call me Winn.”

“So, Winn,” He corrected, “what was your childhood like?”

Winn had an expression of pure shock. “A mess. I mean, what kind of question is that?”

“I was under the impression that people of your time often asked questions of this nature.” Brainy was well aware that people did not, in fact, ask a question like that, even in this time. But he really wanted to know about his brother’s life after he came, and knew a no less awkward way to ask.

Winn sighed. “Fine, just... don’t go asking others about their childhood, okay?”

“Okay, Winn. But, what did you mean by saying your childhood was “a mess”?” Brainy mentally crossed his fingers, a useless gesture, he knew. He hoped, however, that his brother had had a good childhood.

“I was smarter than any other kid my age, the other kids didn’t really appreciate that.” Winn deadpanned. “Being a too-smart foster kid made me a prime target for bullies.”

Brainy was worried and confused. Where was their father?

Brainy was about to ask, when alarms signaling an attack blared.

 

Brainy was getting frustrated. It seemed like every time he was about to tell Winn, someone would interrupt. 

After Winn was attacked by his father’s old cellmate- and wasn’t that a surprise, learning that their father was not only a mass-murderer but also dead?- Brainy tried to confront Winn. 

“I understand the pain you are going through.” He started, as he sat down next to Winn in the empty training room.

Winn snorted. “I doubt that.”

“Well, I have had to fight my relatives to stop them from taking over the world before.” He shrugged.

“Oh. Brainy, I’m sorry for being such a jerk.” He sighed before laughing without humor. “You might actually be one of the only people to actually understand what I’m going through.”

“I wish it wasn’t so. But these are our lives, all we can do is help each other through them.” Brainy wasn’t much for physical contact himself, but he knew it helped to comfort Winn, so he put his arm around his brother’s shoulder.

Winn laid his head on Brainy’s shoulder as they just sat there in silence, each taking comfort in having someone else there with them. “Winn?”

He looked up, “Yeah?”

“Do you remember when I-”

“Winn, we need to talk.” Winn and Brainy both turned around to see Winn’s mother behind them. Brainy was mad at her, although he didn’t say anything. She abandoned his brother and thought she could just waltz back into his life like nothing ever happened?

Brainy walked out before his self-control slipped and he said something against her. The last thing he needed was to do something to push his brother away before he even got him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting close y'all! only two or three more chapter to go


	4. Pestilence and Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're almost there y'all! Only one more chapter to go!

Brainy knew that he needed to tell Winn about his - their - past. However it never seemed like the right time, something else was always going on.

Maybe that was why he forgot to turn the image inducer off after entering the DEO.

As he walked into the room he was distracted by the thoughts raging in his head along with the programs he was running on the tablet he held in front of him. Brainy only looked up at the sound of a gun being drawn along with Kara and Alex’s shouts of “How did you get in here!?”

“Relax guys,” Mon-El reassured. “It’s just Brainy.”

“Ah, yes. I went out to grab some pizza and turned on my image inducer to do so. Last time I did not the results were… less than satisfactory.”

Brainy was unaware of Winn’s entrance until he walked up behind him. “Oh cool, image inducer right?”

At that moment Brainy was so happy he could have, as the humans say, jumped up and down in joy. His brother may not remember him but he was still in there somewhere, even without his memories fully restored. It almost felt like having his brother back.

Almost. Not long now.

Brainy was planning to tell Winn on Monday, which was one of his days off. The DEO had a stacked schedule to ensure that they always had a full staff in case of an alien attack. Before Monday could roll around however, Pestilence struck. At first it was just one office building. Brainy was sorry for the loss of life, but it was inevitable when fighting a World Killer.

Then she attacked Winn and, for the first time since those men in the park forced his family apart, Brainy felt well and truly angry. So angry he felt that if given the chance he would rip Pestilence limb from limb.

Brainy immediately set out looking for a cure. A cure that did not even exist in the future. With twenty-first century technology. No problem. Really the only reason that Brainy was even fighting the odds (28.976% chance of success) was the fact that Pestilence had yet to evolve into the Blight that terrorized the future.

As he was working on the cure Brainy also had a revelation. He could not put off giving his brother his memories any longer. If he could not find the cure, or could not find it in time, he did not want Winn to die without ever knowing who he is. 

Brainy worked tirelessly to make a cure for his brother, once he found it he went to give it to him. Now that he knew that his brother would make it he could give him his memories.

Determined, Brainy marched down to the medical bay. Surrounding his brother in bed was Alex, Kara, and J’onn. Winn looked much worse then he had when Brainy had last seen him. His skin was pale and clammy, his lips were so dry and chapped as to give him the appearance of a deadman. 

Stop. Brainy scolded himself. Don’t think like that. You have the cure. He’ll get better. He has to. “How are you doing Winn?”

“Great.” He coughed. “Just peachy.”

“I have formulated a cure based on the Blight.” Brainy explained. “You will be back on your feet in approximately 7 hours and 56 minutes.”

Winn gave a weak smile. “What happened to ‘no time’?”

“What?”

“The phrase is-” Winn started coughing and had trouble stopping.

Alex came to his rescue. “The phrase normally is that you’ll be ‘back on your feet in no time at all’.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Brainy stated. “Of course the cure will require time to work.” Brainy handed Alex the cure to inject into Winn’s IV port.

“Feeling better already.” Winn muttered, somewhat deliriously, before falling asleep.

Brainy felt a hand slap on his back. “Great job on that cure.” Mon-El congratulated. “That was faster than I think I’ve ever seen you work.”

With my brother’s life on the line I’d do anything to make him better. Brainy thought. “Anything I can do to help stop the Blight.”

Unfortunately with Winn asleep and Pestilence still at large Brainy was unable to stay with Winn and had to return to work. After finding their main suspect dead at the hands of Pestilence they were out of leads.

Brainy was tracking down his next lead when there was a sudden commotion from the Medical Bay. He sprinted up to find Winn seizing on the bed.

“What’s happening?” Kara exclaimed.

“The cure.” Mon-El whispered in horror.

Dread poured over Brainy like ice water as realization dawned on him. “The cure was designed to fight our evolved version of the Blight, not your modern day Pestilence.”

“So what,” Alex asked, “there’s no cure?”

“There will be, I just need to adjust the formula.”

“How long will that take?” J’onn asked.

“Approximately 11.5 minutes.” Brainy looked between the people gathered around. “The difficult part will be the DNA I require from Pestilence to make the new cure work.”

As he finished he heard a thud behind him, followed by Kara’s shrill cry of “Alex!” informing Brainy that he now had more than one patient.

Suddenly Brainy’s tablet he’d brought gave off an alert. “Pestilence has been found. She’s at the Markham and Co. Insurance.”

“On it.” Kara nodded. With that she, Mon-El, and Imra ran out the door. Once the heroes had left to catch Pestilence and J’onn had left to manage the troops Brainy took a seat next to Winn’s bed. 

“Hello Winn.”

Brown eyes struggled to open. “Hey.” Even that small word sent him into a coughing fit.

“I know that this is not an ideal time.” He started. “I tried to tell you this many times before but there was always something more important, or you seemed too busy, or too happy. I see now that I was just scared. Scared of how you might react. But now it may be too late Winn and I do not know what to do.”

“You could-” He paused to cough. “-tell me now.”

“You are right Winn.” Brainy knew Alex was watching in the background but he was done putting this off and being afraid. “This may sound unbelievable but it is imperative that you know that every word I say is factual and the truth.

“Years ago a group of xenophobic terrorists attacked my family.” Brainy pushed back the onslaught of emotions that came with the memories and continued. “My mom and I were able to escape to the safehouse that we’d planned to escape to. My brother and father however, never made it.

“Years later I was still searching.” Brainy locked eyes with Winn’s own confused and bloodshot eyes. “I never stopped searching. Finally I found one of my father’s old labs. It was there that I discovered how they escaped the terrorists. They travelled back in time. The problem was that the machine was a prototype and malfunctioned as they went through. Along with disguising their appearances, that way they could blend in with the local population, it erased their memories.”

“Wh-what does that have to do with anything?” As realization dawned Winn looked almost scared of the answer.

Brainy pulled out the glowing container that held everything he’d ever wanted since his brother had gone missing. “This holds my brother’s memories. They can only bond with him.”

“How do you even know that I’m him?” Winn’s voice was rough and croaky because of the disease that was slowly killing him.

“For one I did a plethora of research before coming here. I also know because of this.” With that he reached up to Winn’s forehead, right where his image inducer sat. At the press of his fingers Winn’s entire body shimmered for a moment before becoming the blue skinned brother that Brainy never thought he’d see again.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“Easy.” He could barely stop himself from outwardly celebrating the return of his brother. “I simply turned off your image inducer. You were never able to do so because, to turn it off, you must press it with the intent to turn it off or on. It’s a safety measure used to prevent any unfortunate accidents.”

“So,” Winn coughed. “I’m… what? Your long lost brother?”

“Exactly. Now I wish to know of you would like your memories returned.” He had been waiting for this moment for nearly thirty years, he did not know what he would do if Winn said no.

“How an I supposed to respond to that?” He croaked. “I mean this life is all I remember. On the other hand now that I know that my life is a lie why wouldn’t I want to learn what my life could really be?” Winn sounded on the verge of hysterics.

“Your life is not a lie Winn.” Brainy asserted. “Even if you weren’t born to this life it is the one you chose to live, all of the choices you made were your own choices.”

“I-I think I need some time to think about this before I do something so major.” Brainy tried to ignore the pain that the rejection brought.

“Well.” Alex spoke up for the first time. “I may be dying but at least I’m not bored.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after I'm done with this story I was thinking of writing one where Winn is an alien (unrelated to Brainy) which takes place during season one onwards. 
> 
> Anyone interested?


	5. Family Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it guys! I hope y'all enjoy it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to me for finally finishing this!

It wasn’t until a week after Pestilence had been defeated that Winn told Brainy his decision.

It had been awkward that that first week, Winn had avoided even looking at him and Brainy was nervous, constantly walking on eggshells around his brother. He hadn’t wanted to do anything that would risk pushing Winn further away.

When Winn first approached him, he’d been surprised. He’d begun to think that Winn would avoid him forever without ever giving him a true answer, wanting to live his life as a normal human without any reminders of his strange heritage. Truthfully, Brainy was still afraid that that would be his answer.

“Brainy.” Winn refused to look him in the eyes, instead focusing on Brainy’s standard issue Legion footwear. “I think I’d like to have my old memories back.”

The statement floored Brainy, thankfully not literally. “Of course.”

“This-this won’t change me will it?” 

Winn seemed nervous, but Brainy was almost too nervous to care.

“Of course not,” He answered. “You will gain new memories from your childhood and have full access to your natural intelligence, of course. However, it won’t change who you are, deep down. You’re still the same man who was Supergirl’s right-hand man, who - I believe the term for this time is ‘fanboyed’ - over Superman.” 

Brainy reached out and put a hand on Winn’s shoulder. “You are still the man who made me feel welcome in a foreign time and place, even without knowing about our relation. You will still have the past 21 years of experience of being human. That will never change.”

Winn took a deep, shuddering breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Brainy turned off Winn’s image inducer before grabbing the glowing memories, he’s carried them with him since his arrival, with shaking hands. “Take this, you must drink all of the memories. Although I must warn you, since no one has ever done this before I do not know what the effects are.”

“Maybe we should do this in the Medbay.” Winn pointed out.

“That… might be for the best.”

 

Once they had made their way to the Medbay Winn drank his memories, cracking a joke that Brainy did not fully understand about getting drunk on memories. Alex checked his vitals to make sure that nothing was going wrong. She’d insisted she be there after hearing about what they were about to attempt.

It was after 3.4166 minutes of ingesting the memories that Winn collapsed backwards onto the bed. “Vitals are stable,” Alex read, “I think his brain just needs to process the new input.”

“Thank you for your assistance, Agent Danvers.” His eyes never left his brother’s still body as he spoke to her. Even as it was happening right before his eyes Brainy couldn’t believe that he would finally have his brother back after so many years on his own.

Alex left with a sympathetic pat on his shoulder and one last glance at Winn sleeping on the bed. Brainy stayed with his brother, sitting at his bedside for 2.749 days. 

Mon-El and Imra tried to convince him to take a break, he would just assure them that Coulons do not need as much food or sleep as humans so he could stay next to Winn until he woke up. Sometimes his solitary watch was joined by Kara or Alex, both wanting to be there for their friend.

Currently, Kara was standing watch on the other side of the bed. Her sudden gasp caused Brainy to momentarily turn his attention onto her. “Brainy, Brainy I just saw his eyes move!”

“It is a natural reaction that has been occurring regularly during his… coma.” He despised calling it that but he could not, unfortunately, deny the truth.

“No. He’s waking up.” She turned away from him and put all of her attention on Winn. “Winn, it’s me, Kara. Brainy’s here too. We can’t wait for you to wake up. Man, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks, hasn’t it? First Pestilence, then you find out that you’re a whole ‘nother species! I can’t even begin to imagine the shock that must’ve been. Take your time waking up, but know that we’re all here, waiting to see that amazing smile of yours.”

“You are aware that talking to him will not make him wake up sooner, correct?”

She shrugged, keeping her eyes firmly on Winn. “Maybe, but it does make me feel better.”

It was silent for the rest of her stay until she had to leave to stop some crime or another. After she left Brainy spoke up, knowing that what he was doing was useless and ineffectual but unable to truly convince himself of that fact. “Hey there. I know that talking to you will not increase the speed of your recovery, however, maybe it will be able to bring me comfort as Kara suggests.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment, as you would say, for as long as I can remember. Which, of course, is false as I can remember even farther back thanks to my, soon to be our, enhanced memory. It does convey the correct sentiment nevertheless as, while I know this to be false, it feels as if you have been missing forever.

“I-I remember our mother after we realized that the both of you were gone. She was heartbroken, a mere shadow of her former self. Our lives always felt like they were lacking something after you left. Not a single day went by that I did not miss you. You are, and always have been, my smart, funny, and incredibly talented brother and I’m so happy to be able to see the amazing man you’ve become.”

“Aww…” A scratchy voice piped up from below him. “You do care.”

“Winn!” Brainy jumped up in shock. “You’re awake!”

“I’m glad to see that 12th level intellect put to good use.”

“So.” Brainy sat back down, trying to cover up his overreaction. “You heard what I said?”

“Yes. No. Kind of?” He sighed. “It’s weird, sometimes I was perfectly aware, just unable to open my eyes. Other times I was lost in the haze of my memories.”

“So you remember now?”

“Yeah.” Tears started to well up in his eyes. “I’m so sorry I made you guys worry like that, I never wanted to leave, and neither did dad. I’m so sorry.”

Brainy leaned over and hugged his brother. “It’s okay, we always understood that you did not leave under your own will. And, now that I have you back, I am never letting you go again. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Winn gave him a watery smile. “Even if you are too smart for your own good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, for those of you wondering why I decided to write them as brothers when the rest of the fandom immediately shipped them my explanation is simple, as someone who doesn't experience romance it's not the first conclusion I jump to. 
> 
> So when I saw them teasing each other I was immediately reminded of my brothers and, having not read any other fic or headcanons in the fandom, wrote this. It wasn't until I was well into the story that I realized that most people shipped them.
> 
> oops


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